List of African-American writers

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This is a list of Black American authors and writers, all of whom are considered part of African-American literature, and who already have Wikipedia articles. The list also includes non-American authors resident in the US and American writers of African descent.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Contents:

* Top
* 0–9
* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

## A

[edit]

Maya Angelou

* Aberjhani (born 1957), historian, columnist, novelist, poet, artist and editor
* Mumia Abu-Jamal (born 1954), political activist and journalist
* Linda Addison (born 1952), author and poet
* Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993), author and creative writing coach
* Ai, aka Ai Ogawa, birth name Florence Anthony (1947–2010), poet, NBA for poetry, 1999
* Rochelle Alers (born 1943), author and artist
* Elizabeth Alexander (born 1962), poet, essayist and playwright
* Kwame Alexander (born 1968), writer of poetry and children's fiction
* Larry D. Alexander (born 1953), author and artist
* Lewis Grandison Alexander (1898–1945)
* Candace Allen (born 1950), novelist, cultural critic and screenwriter
* Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen (1859–1941), author and educator
* Robert L. Allen (born 1942), activist, writer and academic
* Garland Anderson (1886–1939), playwright
* Maya Angelou (1928–2014), author and poet
* Tina McElroy Ansa (born 1949), novelist, filmmaker, teacher and journalist
* Ray Aranha (1939–2011), actor, playwright and stage director
* Chalmers Archer (1928–2014), author, veteran and educator
* M. K. Asante, Jr. (born 1982), author, poet, screenwriter, professor
* Jabari Asim (born 1962), poet, playwright, professor
* Russell Atkins (1926–2024), musician, playwright and poet
* William Attaway (1911–1986), novelist, short-story writer, essayist, songwriter, playwright and screenwriter

## B

[edit]

James Baldwin

* Calvin Baker (born 1972), novelist
* James Baldwin (1924–1987), novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and activist
* Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995)
* Leslie Esdaile Banks (1959–2011)
* Amiri Baraka (1934–2014)
* Shauna Barbosa (born c. 1988), poet
* Steven Barnes (born 1952)
* Lindon W. Barrett (1961–2008)
* Samuel Alfred Beadle (1857–1932)
* Paul Beatty (born 1962)
* Robert Beck (1918–1992)
* Christopher C. Bell (born 1933)
* Derrick Bell (1930–2011)
* Brit Bennett (living)
* Gwendolyn Bennett (1902–1981)
* Hal Bennett (1936–2004)
* Lerone Bennett, Jr. (1928–2018)
* Bertice Berry (born 1960)
* Venise T. Berry (living), novelist
* Henry Bibb (1815–1854)
* Eleanor Taylor Bland (1944–2010), writer of crime fiction
* Marita Bonner (1899–1971)
* Arna Bontemps (1902–1973)
* James Boggs (1919–1993)
* Demico Boothe (living), writer on civil rights
* David Bradley (born 1950)
* William Stanley Braithwaite (1878–1962), poet and literary critic
* Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000)
* Claude Brown (1937–2002)
* Hallie Quinn Brown (1849–1949)
* Roseanne A. Brown (born 1995)
* Sterling A. Brown (1901–1989), poet, literary critic, professor, poet laureate of the District of Columbia
* William Wells Brown (1814–1884), wrote first novel published by an African American, Clotel (1853)
* Anatole Broyard (1920-1990)
* Ashley Bryan (1923–2022)
* Niobia Bryant (born 1972), author of romance and mainstream fiction novels
* Ed Bullins (1935–2021)
* Olivia Ward Bush (1869–1944)
* Octavia Butler (1947–2006)
* Roderick D. Bush (1945–2013)

## C

[edit]

* George Cain (1943–2010)
* Bebe Moore Campbell (1950–2006)
* Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998)
* Ben Carson (born 1951)
* Jennie Carter (1830–1881)
* Stephen L. Carter (born 1954)
* Cyrus Cassells (born 1957)
* Kashana Cauley (living)
* Lady Chablis (1957–2016), actress, author, drag performer
* Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932), novelist and short-story writer
* Alice Childress (1916–1994), playwright and novelist
* Breena Clarke (living)
* Cheril N. Clarke (born 1980)
* Cheryl Clarke (born 1947)
* John Henrik Clarke (1915–1998)
* Stanley Bennett Clay (born 1950), writer, director, actor, publisher
* Troy CLE (living)
* Pearl Cleage (born 1948)
* Eldridge Cleaver (1935–1998)
* Michelle Cliff (1946–2016)
* Lucille Clifton (1936–2010)
* Wendy Coakley-Thompson (born 1966)
* Ta-Nehisi Coates (born 1975)
* Wanda Coleman (1946–2013)
* Marvel Cooke (1903–2000)
* Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964)
* J. California Cooper (1931–2014), playwright
* James Corrothers (1869–1917)
* Jayne Cortez (1934–2012)
* Bill Cosby (born 1937)
* Joseph Seamon Cotter, Sr. (1861–1949)
* Donald Crews (born 1938), children's book author
* Stanley Crouch (1945–2020)
* Harold Cruse (1916–2005)
* Countee Cullen (1903–1946)
* Waring Cuney (1906–1976)
* Christopher Paul Curtis (born 1953)

## D

[edit]

Frederick Douglass W. E. B. Du Bois

* Jeffrey Daniels (living), poet
* Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (born 1967)
* Christopher Darden (born 1956)
* Angela Davis (born 1944) political activist, writer, and professor.[1][2]
* Frank Marshall Davis (1905–1987)
* Kyra Davis (born 1972), novelist
* Milton Davis (living)
* George Dawson (1898–2001)
* Samuel R. Delany, novelist, author, editor, professor, and literary critic
* Eric Jerome Dickey (1961–2021)
* Anita Doreen Diggs (born 1966)
* Nahshon Dion (born 1978)
* Lonnie Dixon (1932–2011)
* Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)
* Rita Dove (born 1952), poet and educator. Youngest person and first Black American to be the U.S. Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress.[3][4]
* Sharon Draper (born 1948)
* W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) writer, sociologist, and activist, who was a founding member of the NAACP[5] His most notable work is The Souls of Black Folk.[6]
* Tananarive Due (born 1966) writer specializing in Black speculative fiction, and professor of Black Horror and Afrofuturism[7]
* Henry Dumas (1934–1968)
* Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), poet
* Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935)
* David Anthony Durham (born 1969)
* Richard Durham, (1917–1984), wrote radio series Destination Freedom
* Michael Eric Dyson (born 1958)

## E

[edit]

Ralph Ellison

* Cornelius Eady (born 1954)
* Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825–1907), educator, activist and author
* Junius Edwards (1929–2008)
* Ralph Ellison (1913–1994), novelist, best known as author of Invisible Man
* Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797)
* Don Evans (1938–2003), playwright
* Mari Evans (1919–2017), poet
* Percival Everett (born 1956)
* Eve Ewing (born 1986), author, educator, poet, and sociologist[8][9][10][11]

## F

[edit]

* Sarah Webster Fabio (1928–1979)
* Ronald Fair (1932–2018)
* Sarah Farro, 19th-century novelist
* John M. Faucette (1943–2003), science-fiction author
* Arthur Huff Fauset (1899–1983)
* Jessie Fauset (1882–1961), editor, poet, essayist and novelist
* London R. Ferebee (1849–1883), preacher and author
* Lolita Files (living), author, screenwriter and producer
* Antwone Fisher (born 1959)
* Rudolph Fisher (1897–1934), novelist, short story writer and dramatist
* Sharon G. Flake (born 1955), writer of young adult literature
* Robert Fleming (living), journalist and writer of erotic fiction and horror fiction
* Mary Weston Fordham (c. 1862–1905), poet
* Namina Forna (born 1987), author and screen writer
* Leon Forrest (1937–1997), novelist
* Tonya Foster (living), poet, essayist and educator
* J. E. Franklin (born 1937), playwright
* John Hope Franklin (1915–2009), historian, sociologist, memoirist
* Hoyt W. Fuller (1923–1981)
* Nina Foxx (living), novelist, playwright and screenwriter

## G

[edit]

* Ernest Gaines (1933–2019), fiction writer
* Ruth Gaines-Shelton (1872–1938), educator and playwright
* Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)
* Tony Gaskins (born 1984), motivational, inspirational, self-help writer
* Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (born 1950)
* Roxane Gay (born 1974)
* Nikki Giovanni (born 1943)
* Roy Glenn (1914–1971), fiction writer, Is It A Crime, Payback
* Donald Goines (1936–1974)
* Marita Golden (born 1950)
* Edythe Mae Gordon (c. 1897–1980), poet, fiction writer
* Eugene Gordon (1891–1972), journalist
* Charles Gordone (1925–1995), playwright
* Amanda Gorman (born 1998), poet
* Lawrence Otis Graham (born 1962)
* Moses Grandy (born c. 1786)
* Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), travel writer
* Eloise Greenfield (1929–2021), children's book author
* Sam Greenlee (1930–2014), novelist, poet, best known as author of The Spook Who Sat by the Door
* Bonnie Greer (born 1948), novelist, playwright, critic
* Deborah Gregory, author of The Cheetah Girls book series
* Dick Gregory (1932–2017)
* Sutton E. Griggs (1872–1933)
* Nikki Grimes (born 1950), children's book author and poet[12]
* Angelina Weld Grimke (1880–1958)
* Charlotte Forten Grimké (1837–1914)
* Rosa Guy (1922–2012)
* John Langston Gwaltney (1928–1998), anthropologist, author of Drylongso
* Yaa Gyasi (born 1989), Ghanaian-American novelist, author of Homegoing.

## H

[edit]

Langston Hughes Zora Neale Hurston

* Alex Haley (1921–1992), author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family
* Virginia Hamilton (1934–2002), author of children's books
* Henry Hampton (1940–1998)
* Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965), playwright
* Joyce Hansen (born 1942), author of children's books
* Vincent Harding (1931–2014), historian and social activist
* Edward W. Hardy (born 1992), playwright
* Nathan Hare (born 1933)
* Frances Harper (1825–1911), poet and abolitionist
* E. Lynn Harris (1955–2009)
* Juanita Harrison (1891–?)
* Saidiya Hartman (born 1961) writer and academic, known for her seminal work Scenes of Subjection[13][14]
* Robert Hayden (1913–1980), poet, essayist, educator
* Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), poet and activist
* David Henderson (poet) (born 1942)
* Safiya Henderson-Holmes (1950–2001), poet
* Chester Himes (1909–1984), novelist
* Kameisha Jerae Hodge (born 1989)
* Corey J. Hodges (born 1970)
* Karla F. C. Holloway (born 1949)
* bell hooks (1952—2021), feminist, and social activist
* Pauline Hopkins (1859–1930), novelist, journalist, playwright, historian and editor
* Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960), Jamaican Canadian, currently based in California
* George Moses Horton (1798–after 1867)
* Roberta Hoskie, real-estate broker, writer, and media personality
* Tracie Howard, fiction writer[15]
* Detrick Hughes (born 1966)
* Langston Hughes (1901–1967), poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist
* Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), folklorist, anthropologist, author of novels short stories, plays and essays

## I

[edit]

* Jordan Ifueko (born 1993)
* Rashidah Ismaili (born 1941), poet, fiction writer, essayist and playwright

## J

[edit]

* Brenda Jackson (born 1953)
* Jesse C. Jackson (1908–1983), young-adult novelist
* Mae Jackson (born 1946), poet
* Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815–1897), author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
* T. D. Jakes (born 1957)
* Ayize Jama-Everett (born 1974), science fiction and speculative fiction writer
* John Jea (1773–after 1817)
* N. K. Jemisin (born 1972), writer of speculative fiction. First person to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.[16][17]
* Beverly Jenkins (born 1951)
* Joseph Jewell (living)
* Terri L. Jewell (1954–1995), poet, writer and Black lesbian activist
* Alaya Dawn Johnson (born 1982)
* Angela Johnson (born 1961)
* Charles R. Johnson (born 1948)
* Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880–1966), poet
* Helene Johnson (1906–1995), poet
* James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), writer and civil rights activist
* Mat Johnson (born 1970)
* Varian Johnson (born 1977)
* Edward P. Jones (born 1950), novelist and short-story writer
* Gayl Jones (born 1949), novelist
* Tayari Jones (born 1970), author and academic
* June Jordan (1936–2002), poet, essayist and activist

## K

[edit]

Martin Luther King Jr.

* Ron Karenga (born 1941)
* Bob Kaufman (1925–1986), poet
* Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907)
* William Melvin Kelley (1937–2017), novelist
* Emma Dunham Kelley-Hawkins (1863–1938), novelist
* Randall Kenan (1963–2020)
* Adrienne Kennedy (born 1931), playwright
* Nina Kennedy (born 1960), memoirist, screenwriter
* John Oliver Killens (1916–1987), novelist
* Jamaica Kincaid (born 1949)
* Emeline King (born 1957)
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
* Woodie King Jr. (born 1937)
* Etheridge Knight (1931–1991), poet
* Yusef Komunyakaa (born 1941)

## L

[edit]

* Pinkie Gordon Lane (1923–2008), poet, editor and teacher
* Nella Larsen (1891–1964), novelist
* Victor LaValle (born 1972)
* Brent Leggs, historian and preservationist, writer, academic
* Andrea Lee (born 1953), novelist and memoirist
* Julius Lester (1939–2018)
* David Levering Lewis (born 1936)
* Willie Little (born 1961) author, multimedia artist
* Alain Locke (1885–1954) writer
* Attica Locke (born 1974), novelist
* Audre Lorde (1934–1992), author, poet, activist
* Bettina L. Love, abolitionist educator and writer
* Glenville Lovell (born 1955), novelist and playwright

## M

[edit]

Toni Morrison

* Christopher Mwashinga (born 1965), poet, theologian, essayist
* Nathaniel Mackey (born 1947), poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic and editor
* Naomi Long Madgett (1923–2020), poet
* Haki R. Madhubuti (born 1942)
* Clarence Major (born 1936), poet, painter and novelist
* Raynetta Manees (living), novelist
* Manning Marable (1950–2011)
* John Marrant (1755–1791)
* Paule Marshall (1929–2019)
* Ora Mae Lewis Martin (1889–1977), journalist and writer
* Hans Massaquoi (1926–2013)
* Brandon Massey (born 1973)
* Victoria Earle Matthews (1861–1907), essayist, newspaperwoman, activist
* Julian Mayfield (1928–1984)
* James McBride (writer) (born 1957)
* Nathan McCall (born 1955)
* Bernice McFadden (born 1965), novelist
* Claude McKay (1889–1948)
* Patricia McKissack (1944–2017)
* Reginald McKnight (born 1956)
* Kim McLarin (born 1964), novelist
* Terry McMillan (born 1951), novelist
* James Alan McPherson (1943–2016)
* Louise Meriwether (1923–2023), novelist, essayist, journalist and activist
* Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951)
* E. Ethelbert Miller (born 1950), poet
* May Miller (1899–1995), poet and playwright
* Arthenia J. Bates Millican (1920–2012), poet, essayist and educator
* Mary Monroe (living), novelist
* Anne Moody (1940–2015)
* Jessica Care Moore (born 1971), poet
* Toni Morrison (1931–2019), author, Nobel laureate 1993
* E. Frederic Morrow (c.1909–1994), first black American appointed to a president's administration (1955–60)
* Walter Mosley (born 1952), novelist
* Thylias Moss (born 1954)
* Willard Motley (1909–1965)
* Jess Mowry (born 1960)
* Albert Murray (1916–2013)
* Pauli Murray (1910–1985)
* Walter Dean Myers (1937–2014), writer of children's books

## N

[edit]

* Tariq Nasheed (living)
* Gloria Naylor (1950–2016)
* Larry Neal (1937–1981)
* Barbara Neely (1941–2020), novelist, short-story writer and activist
* Huey P. Newton (1942–1989)
* Richard Bruce Nugent (1906–1987)

## O

[edit]

* Mwatabu S. Okantah (born 1952) poet and professor[18][19]
* Gabriel Okara (1921–2019), poet and novelist
* Nnedi Okorafor (born 1974), writer of science fiction and fantasy
* Marc Olden (1933–2003), author of mystery and suspense
* Porsha Olayiwola (born 1988)
* Rita Omokha (living), journalist and author
* Terry a. O'Neal (born 1973)
* Tochi Onyebuchi (born 1987), science fiction and fantasy writer and former civil rights lawyer
* Roscoe Orman (born 1944)
* Ewuare Osayande (living)
* Brenda Marie Osbey (born 1957), poet
* Candace Owens (born 1989), political activist

## P

[edit]

* ZZ Packer (born 1973)
* Gordon Parks (1912–2006), photographer, composer, author, poet, and film directo
* Suzan-Lori Parks (born 1963), playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist
* Tyler Perry (born 1969), actor, filmmaker and playwright
* Eric Pete (living), novelist and short-story writer
* Ann Petry (1908–1997), writer of novels, short stories, children's books and journalism
* Debra Phillips (born 1959)
* Delores Phillips (1950–2014), poet and novelist
* Steve Phillips (born 1964), author, columnist, political thought leader
* William Pickens (1881–1954), orator, educator, journalist, and essayist.
* Ann Plato (born c. 1824), educator and author
* Sterling Plumpp (born 1940), educator and author
* Carlene Hatcher Polite (1932–2009)
* Alvin F. Poussaint (born 1934)
* Jewel Prestage (1931–2014), first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science, former Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University
* Robert Earl Price (born 1942), playwright and poet

## R

[edit]

* Aishah Rahman (1936–2014), playwright
* Alice Randall (born 1959), author and songwriter
* Dudley Randall (1914–2000), poet and publisher
* Cordelia Ray (1852–1916), poet and teacher
* Francis Ray (1944–2013), writer of romance fiction
* Andy Razaf (1895–1973), poet, composer and lyricist
* Ishmael Reed (born 1938), poet, essayist and novelist
* Kiley Reid (born 1987), novelist
* Jason Reynolds (born 1983), YA/Middle-Grade novelist/poet
* Willis Richardson (1889–1977), playwright
* Florida Ruffin Ridley (1861–1943), essayist and short-story writer
* Harrison David Rivers (born 1981), playwright
* Cliff Roquemore (1948–2002), writer, producer and director
* Carolyn Rodgers (1940–2010), poet
* Octavia V. Rogers Albert (1853–c. 1890)
* Al Roker (born 1954)
* Fran Ross (1935–1985)
* Shawn Stewart Ruff, novelist
* Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842–1924), journalist
* Malinda Russell (c. 1812–?), author of the first known cookbook by a Black woman in the United States
* Rachel Renee Russell (born 1959), author of the Dork Diaries series of children's novels
* Carl Hancock Rux, poet, essayist, playwright, novelist
* Rupaul (born 1960), actor, author, drag performer, TV show host

## S

[edit]

* Kalamu ya Salaam (born 1947), poet, author, filmmaker, teacher, activist
* Sonia Sanchez (born 1934), poet
* Dori Sanders (born 1934) novelist
* Sapphire (born 1950)
* Charles R. Saunders (1946–2020), author and journalist
* Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874–1938), historian, writer, and activist
* George Schuyler (1895–1977), author, journalist and social commentator
* Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011), poet and musician
* Clara Johnson Scroggins (1931–2019), author, collector
* Sandra Seaton (living), playwright and librettist
* Victor Séjour (1817–1874)
* Fatima Shaik (living), author
* Tupac Shakur (1971–1996)
* Ntozake Shange (1948–2018), playwright and poet
* Nisi Shawl (born 1955)
* Sister Souljah (born 1964)
* Iceberg Slim (1918–1992)
* Amanda Smith (1837–1915)
* Danez Smith (living), poet
* Effie Waller Smith (1879–1960), poet
* William Gardner Smith (1927–1974), journalist, novelist, and editor
* Thomas Sowell (born 1930), economist, social theorist, political philosopher
* A. B. Spellman (born 1935)
* Anne Spencer (1882–1975), poet
* Aurin Squire (born 1979), producer, playwright, screenwriter and reporter
* Theophilus Gould Steward (1843–1924)
* Maria W. Stewart (1803–1879), journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, women's rights activist
* Jeffrey C. Stewart (born 1950), professor and Pulitzer prize winner
* Nic Stone (born 1985)

## T

[edit]

* Ellen Tarry (1906–2008)
* Mildred D. Taylor (born 1943)
* Susie Taylor (1848–1912)
* Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954)
* Lucy Terry (c. 1730–1821)
* Michael Thelwell (born 1939)
* Angie Thomas (born 1988)
* Clarence Thomas (born 1948)
* Joyce Carol Thomas (1938–2016), author, poet, playwright, and motivational speaker
* Lorenzo Thomas (1944–2005)
* Piri Thomas (1928–2011)
* Truth Thomas (living)
* Pamela Thomas-Graham (born 1963)
* Era Bell Thompson (1905–1986)
* Howard Thurman (1899–1981)
* Wallace Thurman (1902–1934)
* Ruth D. Todd (1878–?)
* Lynn Toler (born 1959)
* Melvin B. Tolson (1898–1966)
* Jean Toomer (1894–1967)
* Touré (born 1971)
* Askia M. Touré (born 1938), poet, essayist, leading voice of the Black Arts Movement
* Quincy Troupe (born 1939)
* Sojourner Truth (c.1797–1883)
* Omar Tyree (born 1969)
* Neil deGrasse Tyson (born 1958)

## V

[edit]

* Henry Van Dyke (1928–2011), novelist, editor, teacher and musician
* Ivan Van Sertima (1935–2009), professor, author, historian, linguist and anthropologist at Rutgers University
* Bethany Veney (c. 1813–1916), author of Aunt Betty's Story: The Narrative of Bethany Veney, A Slave Woman (1889)
* Olympia Vernon (born 1973), novelist

## W

[edit]

* Dwyane Wade (born 1982)
* Alice Walker (born 1944)
* Frank X. Walker (born 1961), founding member of Affrilachian poets
* Margaret Walker (1915–1998), novelist, poet and writer
* Christopher George Latore Wallace (1972–1997)
* Michele Wallace (born 1952)
* Eric Walrond (1898–1966)
* Leonard Pitts, novelist, commentator, journalist, and columnist
* Mildred Pitts Walter (born 1922)
* Marilyn Nelson Waniek (born 1946)
* Douglas Turner Ward (1930–2021)
* Jesmyn Ward (born 1977)
* Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)
* Frank J. Webb (1828–c.1894), novelist, poet, essayist
* Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)
* Richard Wesley (born 1945), playwright, screenwriter
* Valerie Wilson Wesley (born 1947)
* Cornel West (born 1953)
* Dorothy West (1907–1998), novelist
* Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), first published African-American poet
* Walter Francis White (1893–1955)
* Colson Whitehead (born 1969), novelist (The Intuitionist, The Underground Railroad) and journalist
* Steven Whitehurst (born 1967), award-winning author
* Albery Allson Whitman (1851–1901), poet, minister and orator
* Anthony Whyte, writer of urban and hip-hop literature
* John Edgar Wideman (born 1941)
* Isabel Wilkerson (born 1961)
* Crystal Wilkinson (living)
* Alicia D. Williams (born 1970), children's novelist
* Chancellor Williams (1893–1992), historian and sociologist
* John Alfred Williams (1925–2015), author, journalist and academic
* Samm-Art Williams (born 1946), playwright
* Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999)
* Walter E. Williams (1936–2020)
* August Wilson (1945–2005)
* Harriet E. Wilson (1825–1900), author of Our Nig and the first African-American novelist
* Kathy Y. Wilson (d. 2022), journalist, columnist, playwright, and commentator
* William Julius Wilson (born 1935), author of When Work Disappears, The Truly Disadvantaged, and The Declining Significance of Race
* Oprah Winfrey (born 1954)
* Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950)
* Jacqueline Woodson (born 1963), award-winning author of books for children and adolescents, including "Brown Girl Dreaming"
* David Wright (born 1964)
* Jay Wright (born 1935), poet
* Kelly Wright, author of Outed Obsession and Fatal Fixation
* Richard Wright (1908–1960), writer of novels, short stories, poems and non-fiction
* Sarah E. Wright, novelist
* David F. Walker, comic book writer and novelist

## X

[edit]

* Malcolm X (1925–1965)
* Marian X (born 1944)

## Y

[edit]

* Camille Yarbrough (born 1938)
* Frank Yerby (1916–1991), historical novelist
* Al Young (1939–2021), poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and professor

## Z

[edit]

* Zane (born 1966/67), author of erotic fiction
* Ahmos Zu-Bolton (1948–2005), activist, poet and playwright

## See also

[edit]

* Literature portal

* List of African-American nonfiction writers
* List of Black New York Times Best Selling Authors
* African-American literature
* Lists of writers
* Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
* Before Columbus Foundation
* List of Mexican-American writers

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Davis, Angela Y. (2022). Angela Davis : an autobiography. [London]. ISBN 978-0-241-55125-7. OCLC 1250601845.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
2. ^ "Directory". humanities.ucsc.edu. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
3. ^ "Rita Dove - Ohio History Central". ohiohistorycentral.org. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
4. ^ "Rita Dove". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
5. ^ "W.E.B. Du Bois | NAACP". naacp.org. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
6. ^ Du Bois, W. E. B. (2014). The souls of Black folk. [North Charleston, SC]. ISBN 978-1-5052-2337-8. OCLC 915084092.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
7. ^ "Bio + Contact". Tananarive Due. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
8. ^ "Eve L. Ewing". Eve L. Ewing. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
9. ^ Foundation, Poetry (March 19, 2023). "Eve L. Ewing". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
10. ^ "Eve L. Ewing | The University of Chicago Division of the Social Sciences". socialsciences.uchicago.edu. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
11. ^ Eve L. Ewing - Breaking Down Structural Racism with "Ghosts in the Schoolyard" | The Daily Show, retrieved March 20, 2023
12. ^ Nikki Grimes at Scholastic.
13. ^ Rodriques, Elias (November 3, 2022). "How Saidiya Hartman Changed the Study of Black Life". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
14. ^ Hartman, Saidiya V. (2022). Scenes of subjection : terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Marisa J. Fuentes, Sarah Haley, Cameron Rowland, Torkwase Dyson ([Revised and updated edition] ed.). New York, NY. ISBN 978-1-324-02158-2. OCLC 1294288038.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
15. ^ "Tracie Howard | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
16. ^ "About". Epiphany 2.0. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
17. ^ Schaub, Michael (August 21, 2018). "N.K. Jemisin makes history at the Hugo Awards with third win in a row for best novel". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
18. ^ "Mwatabu S. Okantah, The Muntu Kuntu Energy Poet". Mysite 3. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
19. ^ "Mwatabu Okantah | Kent State University". www.kent.edu. Retrieved March 20, 2023.

* v
* t
* e

African Americans

History|

* Timeline
* Abolitionism
* African American founding fathers
* Afrocentrism
* American Civil War
* Atlantic slave trade
* Black Codes
* Black cowboys
* Black genocide
* Black Lives Matter
* Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
* Children of the plantation
* Civil Rights Acts
* 1964
* Voting Rights Act of 1965
* 1968
* Civil rights movement 1865–1896
* Civil right movement 1896–1954
* Civil rights movement 1954–1968
* Montgomery bus boycott
* Browder v. Gayle (1956)
* Sit-in movement
* Freedom Riders
* Birmingham movement
* March on Washington
* Selma to Montgomery marches
* Chicago Freedom Movement
* Post–civil rights era
* Cornerstone Speech
* COVID-19 impact
* Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
* Free Negro
* Free people of color
* George Floyd protests
* Great Migration
* Second
* New
* Exodusters
* Inauguration of Barack Obama 2009 / Inauguration of Barack Obama 2013
* Jim Crow laws
* Lynching
* Military history
* Million Man March
* Nadir of American race relations
* The Negro Motorist Green Book
* Partus sequitur ventrem
* Plantations
* Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
* Reconstruction Amendments
* Reconstruction era
* Redlining
* Separate but equal
* Silent Parade
* Slavery
* Treatment of slaves
* Tulsa race massacre
* Underground Railroad
* Women's suffrage movement

Culture|

* Afrofuturism
* Art
* Black mecca
* Businesses
* Dance
* Family structure
* Film
* Folktales
* Hair
* Harlem Renaissance
* New Negro
* Hoodoo
* Juneteenth
* Kwanzaa
* LGBT community
* Literature
* Music
* Musical theater
* Names
* Negro National Anthem
* Neighborhoods
* Newspapers
* Soul food
* Stereotypes
* Middle class
* Upper class

Notable people|

* Ralph Abernathy
* Maya Angelou
* Crispus Attucks
* James Baldwin
* James Bevel
* Julian Bond
* Amelia Boynton
* James Bradley
* Carol Moseley Braun
* Edward Brooke
* Blanche Bruce
* Ralph Bunche
* George Washington Carver
* Shirley Chisholm
* Claudette Colvin
* Frederick Douglass
* W. E. B. Du Bois
* Medgar Evers
* James Farmer
* Henry Highland Garnet
* Marcus Garvey
* Fred Gray
* Fannie Lou Hamer
* Kamala Harris
* Jimi Hendrix
* Jesse Jackson
* Ketanji Brown Jackson
* Michael Jackson
* Harriet Jacobs
* Barbara Jordan
* Coretta Scott King
* Martin Luther King Jr.
* Bernard Lafayette
* James Lawson
* Huddie Ledbetter
* John Lewis
* Joseph Lowery
* Malcolm X
* Thurgood Marshall
* Toni Morrison
* Bob Moses
* Diane Nash
* Barack Obama
* Michelle Obama
* Rosa Parks
* Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
* Colin Powell
* Gabriel Prosser
* Joseph Rainey
* A. Philip Randolph
* Hiram Revels
* Paul Robeson
* Al Sharpton
* Fred Shuttlesworth
* Clarence Thomas
* Emmett Till
* Sojourner Truth
* Harriet Tubman
* Nat Turner
* Denmark Vesey
* C. T. Vivian
* David Walker
* Booker T. Washington
* Ida B. Wells
* Roy Wilkins
* Oprah Winfrey
* Andrew Young
* Whitney Young

Education, science
and technology|

* Black studies
* Black schools
* Historically black colleges and universities
* Inventors and scientists
* Museums
* Women
* in computer science
* in medicine
* in STEM fields

Religion|

* African-American Jews
* Islam
* American Society of Muslims
* Nation of Islam
* Black church
* Azusa Street Revival
* Black Hebrew Israelites
* Black theology
* Doctrine of Father Divine

Political movements|

* Anarchism
* Back-to-Africa movement
* Black power
* Movement
* Capitalism
* Conservatism
* Leftism
* Pan-Africanism
* Populism
* Raised fist
* Self-determination
* Nationalism
* Socialism

Civic and economic
groups

* Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
* Black Panther Party
* Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
* National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
* Nashville Student Movement
* National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC)
* National Council of Negro Women (NCNW)
* National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)
* National Urban League (NUL)
* Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
* Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
* Thurgood Marshall College Fund
* United Negro College Fund (UNCF)
* Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL)

Sports|

* Negro league baseball
* Baseball color line
* Black players in professional American football
* Black NFL quarterbacks
* Black players in ice hockey
* Muhammad Ali
* Arthur Ashe
* Jack Johnson
* Joe Louis
* Jesse Owens
* Jackie Robinson
* Serena Williams

Athletic associations
and conferences

* Central (CIAA)
* Mid-Eastern (MEAC)
* Southern (SIAC)
* Southwestern (SWAC)

Ethnic subdivisions|

* By African descent
* Fula
* Gullah
* Igbo
* Yoruba
* Alabama Creole
* Black Indians
* Black Seminoles
* Cherokee freedmen controversy
* Choctaw freedmen
* Creek Freedmen
* Black Southerners
* Blaxicans
* Great Dismal Swamp maroons
* Louisiana Creole
* of color
* Melungeon

Demographics|

* Neighborhoods
* list
* U.S. cities with large populations
* 2000 majorities
* 2010 majorities
* Metropolitan areas
* States and territories
* Illinois
* Ohio

Languages|

* Afro-Seminole Creole
* American Sign
* Black American Sign
* English
* American English
* African-American English
* African-American Vernacular English
* social context
* Gullah
* Louisiana Creole

By state/city|

* Alabama
* Arkansas
* California
* Los Angeles
* San Francisco
* Cleveland
* Florida
* Jacksonville
* Tallahassee
* Georgia
* Atlanta
* Hawaii
* Illinois
* Chicago
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Davenport
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Lexington
* Louisiana
* Maryland
* Baltimore
* Massachusetts
* Boston
* Michigan
* Detroit
* Mississippi
* Nebraska
* Omaha
* New Jersey
* New York
* New York City
* North Carolina
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Philadelphia
* Puerto Rico
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Austin
* Dallas–Fort Worth
* Houston
* San Antonio
* Utah
* Virginia
* West Virginia

Diaspora|

* Africa
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Liberia
* Sierra Leone
* America
* Canada
* Dominican Republic
* Haiti
* Mexico
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Israel
* Europe
* France

Lists|

* African Americans
* Activists
* Actors
* Astronauts
* Billionaires
* Journalists
* Jurists
* Mathematicians
* Republicans
* Singers
* Sportspeople
* Spingarn Medal winners
* US cabinet members
* US representatives
* US senators
* Visual artists
* Writers
* African-American firsts
* Mayors
* Sports firsts
* US state firsts
* Historic places
* Index of related articles
* Landmark African-American legislation
* Lynching victims
* Monuments
* Neighborhoods
* Topics related to the African diaspora

* Category
* United States portal

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